![]() ![]() He was undoubtedly the first person to coin the word ‘microlight'. He went on to become the first person to fly from London to Paris in the British Airways powered hang glider, which was the first Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) registered microlight in the UK (G-BGNL) and the first microlight flight to carry Royal Mail.Ī young Gerry prepares to race Concorde to Paris Gerry's World Distance Record flying the first UK microlight In 1976 he introduced powered hang glider flying to the UK with his kingpost mounted M’Culloch powered hang glider and, by 1978, he had doubled the world non-stop powered hang glider distance record previously held by an American (John Moody) by flying 202 miles from Tredegar in Wales to Norwich Airport In 1976 he introduced powered hang glider flying to the UK and, by 1978, he had doubled the world non-stop distance record previously held by an American In 1975 he co-authored the first British book about hang gliding with the late President of the BMAA Ann Welch.ġ975 and Gerry was the first to take a dual flight from the top of Mt Snowdon He then started the Welsh Hang Gliding Centres at Crickhowell and Ruthin, which became Britain’s largest and most successful schools. In 1974 he left the RAF and set up a hang glider manufacturing company. ![]() ![]() He along with Sqn Ldr Dave Willis were the first people to hang glide from the summit of Ben Nevis (4,406ft), Britain’s highest mountain, and he held the British and European duration record several times. He was sponsored by the RAF to set many records including the first Royal Mail to be carried by a hang glider and the first dual flight from the summit of Snowdon. In 1971 he won the Whitbread Bursary Award & Sir Phillip Sassoon Flying Scholarship that started him on his professional aviation career at the Airline Service Training School in Perth, Scotland.ġ972 saw him become one of the first people in the UK to successfully fly a hang glider. He joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) at 16 years of age and, during his engineering apprenticeship at the No.1 School of Aircraft Technical Training Halton, he became a gliding instructor at the prestigious RAFGSA Centre, Bicester when only at 17 years of age. Gerry started his long aviation career when only 13 years old at the Bristol & Gloucester Gliding Club. Although I have only covered his early years up to around 1983, he has still been a busy person pushing the development of powered hang gliding and flying in general for many years. I must thank Gerry for giving me permission to use this information and I hope you all find it an interesting read. The following article has been taken from his web-site, which is well worth a visit. He has left his foot print in our history with his many records and firsts in the sport. The aviation environment here is ideal for both manufacture and training.Gerry is one of Britain's main early hang gliding pioneers, in both free flying and powered. Our factory is located in Bangalore, the hub of all aviation activity in India, here we build the air-frames, under-carriage and the wings. The materials we use are consistent with worldwide standards for the manufacture of aero sports equipment and accessories Some are available here in India and some specific materials like fabric for the wing and engines are imported. Our products are constructed from the best materials. We have created the vital infrastructure for the aviation manufacturing business using the latest technology that is available including Laser, water jet and CNC machines etc. We have designed and constructed many powered hang gliders and free flight hang gliders during this time using indigenous materials. We have regularly conducted hang gliding courses in the Nilgiris since the early 1990`s. Javad Hassan, he has been involved with designing and flying hang gliders and powered hang gliders since 1986. We are a company specializing in the manufacturing of sports aviation products, and also run a flying training school. Albatross Flying Systems was established in November of 1999. ![]()
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